The invention relates to a loop forming apparatus to be used in cooperation with a sausage sealing machine.
German utility Model 85 16 678.2 already discloses a machine for sealing sausage casings with which a sausage strand several meters long can be split up into a plurality of sausage portions and sealed by pairs of clips. In conjunction with such sausage sealing machines, it is also known to insert previously produced loops in the gathering plates of the known machine and to fix them with clips.
A disadvantage of the known, previously produced loops is that they are relatively complicated, because they must be supplied to the sausage sealing machine on a support strip specially prepared for this purpose. Consequently it is necessary to tie the loops at another point and then fix them on the carrier strip, e.g., by adhesive and then, at the sausage sealing machine, they must be removed from the carrier again by suitable gripping devices. It is also necessary to position the loops on the clipper.
The problem is therefore to provide a simple apparatus for producing loops, which can be installed on known sausage sealing machines, e.g., in accordance with German utility Model 85 16 678.2.
This problem is solved by the characterizing features of the present invention which provide an in situ fitted loop forming apparatus used in conjunction with a sausage sealing machine.